BioE Hosts First Luojia International Biomedical Conference

The Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BioE) hosted the 1st Luojia International Biomedical Conference on September 21, 2013. The event celebrated the 120th anniversary of Wuhan University–one of China's top ten educational institutions–the 70^th anniversary of its medical school, and its long-standing collaborations with the University of Maryland. Many Wuhan University faculty and alumni have visited, attended school or worked in departments throughout the university, including BioE.

The conference was sponsored and organized by Wuhan University alumnus and BioE researcher Dr. Hengchang Guo. The goal, he says, was to foster communication and collaboration among Wuhan University alumni here and abroad, provide resources for international cooperation, and strengthen the two universities' biomedical research partnerships.

More than 100 guests gathered in the Clark School's Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building to attend presentations from 13 invited speakers, all recognized experts in biomedical research, from both academia and industry. Topics included cancer studies, biofabrication, bioimaging, diagnostics, genetics, neuroscience, sensors, translational research, publishing, and legal issues.

Speakers from BioE included Professor and Chair William E. Bentley, who provided the opening remarks; Professor Gregory Payne, currently a guest professor at Wuhan University's School of Resource and Environmental Science; and Guo himself, a member of Assistant Professor Yu Chen's Biophotonic Imaging Lab. Payne delivered a talk titled “Biofabricating an Interface Between Biology and Electronics,” while Guo's presentation, “Advanced Optical Imaging System Development for Biomedical Applications,” was followed by a tour of and demonstration in the Biophotonic Imaging Lab. Guo highlighted the lab's achievements in optical coherence tomography (OCT), two-photon microscopy (TPM), coherence-gated doppler (CGD) fiber sensors, and fluorescence laminar optical tomography (FLOT). Guests included Professor Xueji Zhang (University of Science and Technology, Beijing), Professor Xin-Yun Huang (Cornell University), Professor Zhenyu Yue (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai), Professor Wenzhe Ho (Temple University School of Medicine), and Dr. Zhengxiong Xi (National Institutes of Health).

The participants of the 1st Luojia International Biomedical Conference, hosted by the Fischell Department of Bioengineering.

University of Maryland president Wallace D. Loh congratulated the conference organizers and guests. "The University of Maryland is proud of our association with Wuhan University," he wrote in a recent e-mail, "and we were honored to host this prestigious conference, which provided an opportunity for scholars and scientists from around the world to learn from each other and discuss issues that will help humankind. On behalf of the faculty, students and staff of the University of Maryland, please accept my most sincere and warmest congratulations on reaching your milestone anniversaries. I hope and trust that our bonds of friendship will continue in the future and I very much look forward to welcoming you again to Maryland soon."

Additional conference speakers and visitors included:

Ying-Hong Feng, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Xin-Yun Huang, Cornell University Weill Medical College
Wenzhe Ho, Temple University School of Medicine
Zhenhui Li, Blair Medical Associate, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Ke Ren, University of Maryland School of Dentistry
Xiao-Fan Wang, Duke University Medical School, Chair of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America
Huaxiang Xia, Medjaden Bioscience Ltd.
Yi Xia, GenScript USA Inc.
Sean X. Yu, BioAstrum
Zhenyu Yue, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Xueji Zhang, University of Science and Technology Beijing
Zhi-ming Zheng, National Cancer Institute, NIH

Guo and his fellow organizers from the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Wuhan University Alumni Association wish to thank the conference's generous supporters: Arking Pharma Scientific, Inc., Professor William E. Bentley and the Fischell Department of Bioengineering, GenScript, The Law Offices of Zhivu Hu, Medjaden Bioscience Limited, and the Wuhan University Health Sciences Center; as well as Wuhan University alumni Li Chen ('82), Zhiyu Hu ('83), Bo Liang ('03), Wei Qiu ('00), Lei Zheng ('00), and Bingrui Zhou ('02).

Published October 3, 2013